Review of the Effectiveness of Recovery Activities for North Atlantic right whales

Indirect Recovery Activities: Monitoring and Stewardship

Table of Contents

• Complete Text
• 1. Background
• 2. Objective of this Review
• 3. Sources of Information
• 4. Methods for Assessing Effectiveness of Recovery activities
• 5. Review of Recovery activities
  • 5.1. Recovery Objectives
  • 5.2. Threats
  • 5.3. Review of Recovery activities
• 6. Effectiveness of Recovery Activities
  • 6.1. Vessel Strikes
  • 6.2. Fishing-Gear Entanglements
  • 6.3. Disturbance and Habitat Reduction or Degradation
    • 6.3.1. Contaminants
    • 6.3.2. Acoustic Disturbance
    • 6.3.3. Vessel-presence disturbance
    • 6.3.4. Changes in Food Supply
• 7. Indirect Recovery Activities: Monitoring and Stewardship
• 8. Threat-Based Recommendations
  • 8.1. Vessel Strikes
  • 8.2. Fishing-Gear Entanglements
  • 8.3. Disturbance and Habitat Reduction or Degradation
  • 8.4. Required Research and Monitoring
• 9. Conclusions
• 10. Literature Cited
• Appendix A: Acronyms
• Appendix B: Defining Risk
• Appendix C: Summaries of Recovery Activities

7. Indirect Recovery Activities: Monitoring and Stewardship

Through research and monitoring efforts many recovery activities under Objectives 4-7 are being addressed (Table 1). When counting the number of activities that have been completed or are underway listed in the Progress Report (DFO 2016b) that apply to each objective, it becomes evident that most activities thus far focus on Objectives 4-7, with each of these objectives having at least double the number of activities as compared with Objectives 1-3 (Appendix C, Table C1). Similarly, when examining the performance indicators in the Recovery Strategy, only the first nine performance indicators address Objectives 1-3, and these have a lower number of activities associated with them when compared to the other 11 performance indicators that address Objectives 4-7 (Appendix C, Table C2).

As previously discussed, this is a threat-based assessment of the effectiveness of recovery activities that have been implemented to directly reduce threats North Atlantic right whales. As Objectives 4-7 are not directly associated with identified threats, they will not be evaluated here for their effectiveness on North Atlantic right whale recovery. However, it is important to recognize that many of the activities listed under Objectives 4-7 may indirectly affect the effectiveness of, and are important for informing, threat-based recovery activities. For example, without research and monitoring of the population to increase knowledge of their abundance, distribution, seasonal occurrence and habitat use (such as surveys undertaken by the New England Aquarium, NOAA, CWI, DFO, Dalhousie University, and others), it would be difficult to implement effective spatiotemporal threat-based recovery activities, such as the amendment to the Bay of Fundy TSS and the Roseway Basin ATBA. The science justification for many of these measures relied on data generated through activities that support Objectives 4-7. As well, some of the stewardship activities listed under Objectives 4-7 are needed to promote and encourage the continuing success of implemented recovery activities. Furthermore, many research and monitoring activities, particularly those related to monitoring population health, abundance and trends, are required to evaluate the effectiveness of any threat-based recovery activities implemented, as has been evidenced in the previous section of this review. It is imperative to better identify the high priority activities within Objectives 4-7 that have a direct impact on the implementation of management measures to ensure that they are supported.